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The time has
come to take stock of the entire transport subsidy regime – looking at every
cent spent by government to subsidise all forms of transport in South Africa,
said Transport Minister Blade Nzimande.

Nzimande spoke to Fin24 on the sidelines of the International Transport Forum Annual Summit in Leipzig, an
international gathering of politicians, CEOs, leading researchers and heads of
international organisations.

The minister said he met
with MECs and they have agreed to prioritise the discussion on transport
subsidies.

The Gauteng
Freeway Improvement
Project (GFIP), e-tolls and the possibility of subsidising busses will be on
the agenda. As well as the question of a simple subsidy to the taxi industry
which transports between 65% and 68% of South African passengers, every single
day.

“We want to
look into all of that so we can be able to say when we look at this amount, is
it fair, is it equitable is it driving redress, or is it simply re-enforcing the
old apartheid transport patterns,” Nzimande said.

“We tend to
forget for instance that government has paid billions of rands in subsidising
the Gautrain. Gautrain, if truth be told
goes to elite areas, and it is only catering for the middle class.”

When asked
about a time frame for this discussion, Nzimande said it would happen before the
end of June.

Funding road infrastructure

As for the public backlash on e-tolls, Nzimande explained that the main issue
behind it is how to find road infrastructure.

“That’s the
question. Is it user pay principle, or use per pay? If it is – who pays and who
doesn’t pay? Do you have a fuel levy for everyone? Including people from
Pietermaritzburg paying for Gauteng highways? Or do you have a Gauteng-only
fuel levy to address this? Must it go
back to Treasury to pay for this?

“Our
principle is that user pay principle is well established for those who can
afford it. People must pay,” he said.

Nzimande
pointed out that if road infrastructure is not funded through e-tolls, then it
leaves a gap to provide good road infrastructure.

“We really do
need to improve our road infrastructure. We need more roads for that matter. Highways
in order to be able to support economic growth and development in our country.”

Nzimande
added that roads have been improved, but much more improvement is needed,
especially of rural roads. “We mustn’t only be thinking about highways and main
roads, we do need to build more rural roads because then you are supporting
local economic development.

‘Build roads
and create wealth’

“We need to
build roads to promote tourism, for economic development. The Chinese have a
wonderful saying, ‘build roads and create wealth’. If you build roads, you
create wealth because those roads tend to be used for economic development.”

Nzimande
acknowledged that the GFIP must be addressed, as Sanral’s integrity is a
growing concern.

“You see
people have now only spoken about Sanral in relation to GFIP, to e-tolls. Sanral is doing some great work as an agency,”
said Nzimande.

He commented
that presidents in the Southern African Development Community had asked
President Cyril Ramaphosa for help to develop highways in the region as good as
South Africa’s.

Nzimande said
he was instructed by the president to find a feasible way to use transport as a
“key driver” of regional economic development.

“Sanral has got a lot of experience you know in terms of that but
unfortunately now it’s image is associated with e-tolls when in fact they are
continuing to build road and they are still going to be investing billions of
rands.

“We give them
money. They are number two from Prasa. The highest entity that we give money to
is Prasa, followed by Sanral.”

Sanral has
the ability to raise funds through bonds and loans as a means to support road infrastructure development.